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Daily ebola reporting from Freetown via OnOurRadar

“There was riot in Kono yesterday…I heard the information in the night so I called my friend living in Kono to find out more. According to her, an old woman was sick and the Ebola team came to carry her away. Her relatives refused, so there was a quarrel which locals got involved with. The police started firing and two civilians allegedly lost their lives.”

“The Resident Minister came to ensure that borders are closed. He empowered the security forces not to allow anybody to go out or come in the country. He told the people to help with community policing to protect the country from Ebola. He also went to the Guinea border to check out the situation for himself.”

“We are so worried…we are in trouble now… Everybody is praying for survival.”

Sierra Leone’s Koinadugu district was the only district in the country to have successfully kept the Ebola virus at bay, until Wednesday when two cases were confirmed. This has caused panic in the community.

John F Sillah reports on the community’s response and their determination to regain its status as an Ebola free district.

People are beginning to think Ebola is a man made disease as only man made diseases have an end date and natural diseases do not.

The local radio show Monologue, mostly listened to by Sierra Leoneans revealed that, according to the government, Ebola will be eradicated by November. The show also said that some patients who have been admitted are not Ebola positive.

On Tuesday in Freetown clashes broke out between security forces and people protesting against delays in removing a corpse of an Ebola victim.

– Mohamed Kamara

The 117 team said the people are responsible because when they are called and arrive to collect a corpse, people stop them and they must provide the results [if it is an Ebola case or not] before going away with the body, so this is why there are complaints about corpses left in the streets.

Two suspected Ebola cases have been reported in Fagoya, a village in the Nieni chiefdom of the Koinadugu District. This village allegedly became affected through a man who had travelled there from Kono. Many people in Kabala are now very worried. The District was the only previously unaffected region in Sierra Leone.

In this part of the country, students are not able to listen to the radio; most of them don’t own radios. This is farming time, parents are looking for food- how will they tell their children to listen when there is no food at home. Generally, children in this community are not benefiting from it.

Sierra Leone government officials launch a project that offers lessons via the radio for children as schools are closed indefinitely.

-Mohamed Camara

The education program on the radio is not really necessary for primary school because when we take a look at the country’s level of education, it is very poor and not all parents are educated to guide their children. Not all parents listen to the radio nor have someone to stay by their kids, and because of all this my mother said she will prefer my young brother to wait until school reopens and will not waste time on the radio.

The ban of bike riders (“okada”) has been lifted on the 11th of October in the city of Makeni by the Resident Minister-North Alie D. Kamara. As reported previously, on the 29th of September there were false rumours about the end of Ebola spread by bike riders. This led to the ban. Now the Minister raised four points regulating bikes circulation: bikes must be licenced and insured; there will be no underage riders allowed; bikes must be registered; and riders should obtain licences. Above all, only bike riders are allowed to travel between 7 am and 7 pm.

Workers at the Ebola case management centre at the government hospital in Kenema have threatened to down their tools today following the non-payment of their allowances for over four weeks now. It has been confirmed that the Ebola case management centre at the government hospital in Kenema is presently housing 7 confirmed Ebola patients and 10 awaiting laboratory results.

Dead Body discovered at Brookfields Community in the Western part of Freetown. According to residents around, they have been calling 117, the free Ebola Emergency phone contact. No one has yet shown up from the Ebola Emergency team.

Muslims prayed their congregational prayers in different places including the town field (Wusum) during Eid, where they took water and soap and even preached on the preventive methods of the epidemic. But the way cars and vans were overloaded is my concern, as the touching, sweating might be [fateful] if ebola affected are amongst.

Ebola is getting better in my community, Koindu but it has caused many women to become widows and children to be orphans in the community. How will these children live and have access to food, shelter and education?

One year ago, she died from complications in childbirth, a killer that every month takes twice as many lives as the entire Ebola epidemic. ... Many of these success stories were made possible through international development aid for maternal health, which increased steadily from 2010 to 2015.

Widow of Ebola Victim, Mother of Five Cries For Assistance March 18, 2018

Her story is probably more mind grappling than some of the famous stories told about the ugly impact left behind by the world's worst deadly Ebola virus outbreak in West Africa, including Liberia in 2014. Liberia became the worst affected with more than 5000 deaths. For Shianeh, every year Decoration ...

One year ago, she died from complications in childbirth, a killer that every month takes twice as many lives as the entire Ebola epidemic. ... Many of these success stories were made possible through international development aid for maternal health, which increased steadily from 2010 to 2015.

Widow of Ebola Victim, Mother of Five Cries For Assistance March 18, 2018

Her story is probably more mind grappling than some of the famous stories told about the ugly impact left behind by the world's worst deadly Ebola virus outbreak in West Africa, including Liberia in 2014. Liberia became the worst affected with more than 5000 deaths. For Shianeh, every year Decoration ...